Poll on Scottish independence.

I see the BBC poll on independence has mirrored the results on mine.



BRING IT ON 

The State we are in.

This is one of the best articles on the Ukanian state I have read in a long time...


In “Britain of the cuts”, the present Scottish Government has become the last bastion of faith in a public-service state. It upholds beliefs which were once shared all over the UK: that health and prescriptions, school meals and university education, care and public transport for the old, should all be free, the state’s honouring of the contract between citizen and ruler.


But the Scottish bastion is now isolated, and the waters are rising around its walls. The huge cuts in Westminster’s block grant may force the Holyrood government to abandon these pledges. 

Scotland is a nation with half a state. If that half-state is prevented from doing its duty, then some will conclude that 11 years of devolution have been a waste of time. 

And others, looking ahead in anger, will demand a whole state for the future.


About the author:
Described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm as “perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had”, Neal Ascherson is a distinguished journalist and author as well as a visiting professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. His books include Black Sea: The Birthplace Of Civilisation And Barbarism (Vintage, £9.99) and Stone Voices: The Search For Scotland (Granta, £9.99).

Iain Gray and the BBC.

Can you believe the shocking lies and blatant dishonesty of this deluded man. this is boak inducing stuff.

Knife crime is down but he reckons it is the most important thing in Scotland.

Copy of letter sent to David Cameron.

OPEN LETTER TO DAVID CAMERON PM UK.

Dear Mr Cameron,

REMEMBER THIS:

"There's one aspect of Scottish-English relations that I want to address.

It may seem trivial to some but I happen to believe that it's almost more damaging to the Union than institutional or economic difficulties.

It's a question of attitudes.

And, in particular, the ignorance of English people about Scots and Scotland.

All too often Scots switch on their televisions to be greeted with ignorant and inaccurate stereotypes.

Even as an Englishman, I find it a bit embarrassing.

Another aspect of English cultural insensitivity that rears its head in the media is the vexed question of sporting identity.

Why is that Scottish sportsmen and women who win are habitually claimed by English media commentators as 'British' only to be promptly redesignated as 'Scottish' the moment they lose?

Instead of deriding Scots as chippy or difficult, isn't it time that English people of good will educated themselves?

Part of the problem is that some English commentators don't seem to know what to think of Scotland - when they can be bothered to think at all.

They appear seriously confused.

One moment they deride Scots as hopeless drunks and beggars.

The next they complain that England is run by something called the Scottish Raj, a race of superhumans led by John Reid and Kirsty Wark."

YOU SAID THAT MR CAMERON.

You have trashed the Scottish Government in America with your ridiculous over the top pandering to the gallery by “violently agreeing,” with Obama on the Megrahi case.

You then trashed us once more at your parties conference and have now compounded it with a cheap and nasty sneer at Angus Robinson who asked a perfectly legitimate question of you regarding jobs in Moray and the Union deficit on defence spending in Scotland, per capita.

You owe a public apology to Mr Robinson and the Scottish people especially the people of Moray, who you clearly do not give a toss about. To imply that an independent Scottish Government would be flying by the seat of their pants is just bigotry of the worst kind that we have come to expect from Tory Toffs  such as you and from Westminster in general. OK you got your cheap laugh but at what price?

Newsnet Scotland

http://newsnetscotland.com/speakers/884-bbc-scotland-devils-advocate-or-just-plain-devilNewsnet



Newsnet Scotland are rapidly becoming the place to visit, if you are like me a Scottish Independence supporter.


They have done an excellent piece on the obscenity and the democratic deficit that BBC Scotland has created in our country....

THE HIDDEN TRUTH OF SOMALIAN PIRACY...

Added on 11th April 2010 at 08:39 by roibeard

by Dan Eden for viewzone

How do I tell you about this?

Most of you have already heard about the Somali pirates. Just recently they captured an American cargo ship and held the captain hostage. They have done this to many other vessels from a variety of different countries. In fact, the American captain was lucky -- he escaped, with the help of some sharp-shooter Navy Seals -- but hundreds of international sailors and crew are still being held by Somali pirates who seek millions of dollars for their safe return, and the safe return of their ships.

You know all this already, though. And you probably think it's just one more evil group of people trying to get rich quick. You probably even think we should just kill them all or find their Somali-based camp and wipe it out and be done with it.

But there's another side of this story you haven't been told. And when you hear it, you might just change your opinion of what's been going on.

I want to first describe Somalia. It's not a beautiful place, in fact it has been compared to hell on earth. All of Africa is poor by western standards, but Somalia is poor by African standards. Decades of drought, famine, genocide, war and corruption have left the inhabitants of this dusty ruin of a country in a constant battle for daily survival.

The land is littered with trash and debris from brief periods of hope and prosperity that cycled through corruption and violence. People live in huts made of trash and a majority of the nation survives on their only resource -- the ocean.

In the latter part of the 1990s, Somali people began to get sick. It was isolated at first -- skin rashes, some hair falling out, bleeding of the gums, diarrhea... and it came and went. Some people thought it could have been the fish or the water, but no one really could focus on the cause. Then, on Christmas day of 2004, it all became clear.

The great earthquake in Indonesia caused a deadly tsunami that moved west, killing hundreds of thousands of people along the way, and finished by pushing the ocean waters up the Somali coast. After it receded, Somali people found dozens of huge, strange metal cylinders on their shoreline.

Being impoverished but resourceful, people began to open the cylinders and scavenge through the contents. Maybe there was something of value inside... something they could use or sell for food. Some cylinders contained what appeared to be rocks or dirt, others had what looked like plastic and glass trash. Soon, the beaches were littered with the same debris, likely from cylinders that had broken apart under the water.

Within a few weeks, hundreds of people were sick and 300 people had died. Why? What was going on? What does this have to do with pirates?

In a schoolyard, the bullies usually pick on the weakest kids. In the global schoolyard, a country without a government to protect its people, like Somalia, is an invitation for abuse. And when the abuse is about money it's a done deal.

The easiest way to abuse Somalia was to rob them of their one great resource -- food. According to Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the United Nations envoy to Somalia,

"European ships have been looting Somaia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed out own fish stocks by over-exploitation ñ and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300 million worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somaliaís unprotected seas."

The most prized catch of the Somali seas if the yellowfin tuna, yet these fish have been found to have surprisingly high traces of such toxic chemicals as cadmium, mercury and radioactive uranium. Despite this, these same fish are sold all across Europe without the requirement to disclose the chemicals or their country of origin.

But that's not the worst of it.

In the latter part of the 20th Century, a growing expense to both private corporations and governments has been the disposal of waste -- biological from hospitals and labs, toxic waste from factories and industry and nuclear waste from medical and military use. Even the least expensive disposal of these toxic materials can cost $250 per ton.

But what if a company offered to dispose of these toxic wastes for just $2.50 per ton? You can see where this story is going.

In the mid-90s, a Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an Italian company, Progresso, offered their quick toxic waste disposal services to a host of European nations. The waste was loaded on to their ships and sailed away. Oh yes, there was talk and plans were made for giant incinerators to neutralize the poisons. It was all supposed to be ecological. But none of the contractors -- mostly European nations -- bothered much to check that out. Yes, the waste was loaded on to their ships and sailed away... only to be dumped in the shallow ocean off Somalia.

After the 2005 tsunami, much of the once submerged waste found it way to the beaches where the broken containers spread debris and toxic particles inland. Nick Nuttall, a UN Environment Program spokesman, said that there are reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems like mouth bleeds, abdominal hemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties in many of the northern Somali villages like Hobbio and Benadir.

What? You never heard of this before?

Humans are an amazing species. We are capable of the best and worst. At best we can survive and struggle against almost anything to ensure our survival. The Somali people did. Faced with no government to protect them from the pollution of their ocean, and the depletion of their only source of food, they organized against the dumping. They organized locally in tribes, and the tribes organized clans. With no coast guard, the Somali fishermen tried to thwart off the huge ships that were dumping uranium, mercury, lead, medical waste and other toxins on their food supply and livelihood. They knew their small effort would have little effect on the huge dumping companies... but maybe if the world knew... maybe the world would stop them.

Somali "pirate" leader, Januna Ali Jama, has clearly stated that their actions against foreign ships are aimed at stopping the dumping of toxic wastes. He said,

"We are reacting to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years. The Somali coastline has been destroyed. We believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas."

Ex-Somali Army Colonel Mohammed Nureh Abdulle lives in Haradhere ñ the town in the center of the pirate community. In a BBC interview he said,

"The town's residents are more concerned with the dumping of toxic waste than piracy... this dumping has been going on for a very long time. In 1991 the government collapsed in this African Nation and certain large corporations took advantage of this. European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping thousands of barrels of toxic waste into the ocean. The coastal population began to get sick. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies and many other symptoms but lacking proper medical attention much was overlooked. Then after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness and more than 300 died.

A few nights ago, some tanks came out from the high sea and they cracked it seems and now they are leaking into the water and into the air.

The first people fell ill yesterday afternoon. People are reporting mysterious illnesses; they are talking about it as though it were chicken pox -- but it is not exactly like that either. Their skin is bad. They are sneezing, coughing and vomiting.

This is the first time it has been like this; that people have such very, very bad sickness. The people who have these symptoms are the ones who wake early, before it is light, and herd their livestock to the shore to graze. The animals are sick from drinking the water and the people who washed in the water are now suffering. "

In August of 2008, a group of about 40 Somalis attacked and seized an Iranian cargo ship, the Dyanat and took it to the port of Eyl. There it was secured by a larger group of about 100 Somalis. Within days of securing the ship, those Somalis that had been on board and inspected the cargo began to develop strange health problems. They had strange skin burns, loss of hair, nausea... and a number of men died. The actual cargo containers were securely locked and the crew claimed they did not have the access codes to open them. At first the captain said the containers contained "crude oil" but later admitted they were carrying "minerals." After a week the ransom was paid and the ship continued. Many believe it contained radioactive waste that would have been dumped had the Somaliís not intervened.

But humans are also capable of the worst. Despite the Italian Greenpeace announcement in 1992 that this activity was going on, despite the United Nations warning in that same year, despite the Italian parliament's recognition of these activities in 2000, the thousands of Somali people who are sick, the mutations and hundreds of deaths and contaminated fish, even today, these facts are suppressed.

The European nations who signed contracts with Achair and Progresso could care less about a poor country with dark skinned people. In the color spectrum of greed, green trumps every color. It is much easier to ferment hatred for brown or black skinned "pirates" than to admit the real reason for these desperate acts. It is much easier to just "kill them all" than to step in to their shoes (or lack of shoes) and see what options you might choose.

Just recently, British Foreign Minister David Miliband boasted that Britain would take the lead on "cracking down" on the pirates. The Royal Navy has instituted a special operation called "Operation Atalanta." The target will be the Somalis -- not the toxic waste ships! So now, US and European ships will continue to dump their toxic cargos with the protection from huge Navy vessels, and continue the misery of the Somali people.

Oh, there's much more I could write about this. I could tell you the guilty individuals who allowed this to happen or how the Somali warlords received arms in return for their complicity. Or the brave journalists like Ilaria Alpi and Mivan Brovato, who were assassinated in Somalia following their interview with a high level whistle-blower... But, for now, open your eyes and look for the truth behind the headlines and sound-bites.

It's much more interesting to think in black and white, good and bad. But too often the truth comes in only one color, the green of money.

“Not for flags and anthems but for fairness and compassion”

Excellent summary of the SNP conference from this blogger who has just popped up on my radar. Despite the best efforts of BBC Scotland to marginalise and denigrate the SNP conference I think Salmond has come of age and will lead us to victory next May. Given all the shit about to hit the fan most of it created by Labours lies and incompetence there will never be a better time for Scotlands independence to be centre stage:

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Salmond’s purpose: “Not for flags and anthems but for fairness and compassion”

by burdzeyeview on October 17, 2010

The burd has heard many speeches by Alex Salmond over the years.  But never one like this.
Gone was the old Eck, and in its place, a New Improved Eck.  Salmond delivered a personal, passionate and powerful account of his Government’s record, his party’s opening gambit for the Holyrood election and his philosophy on independence.  Activists expecting a rousing call to arms got something very different but much more significant.  “I fight not for flags and anthems but for fairness and compassion”.  Wow.
At the heart of his speech were two concepts – purpose and protect.  The latter was aimed firmly at the SNP’s re-election campaign strategy.  A second term SNP government will protect people from the worst of the cuts, by freezing the council tax, by delivering a living wage for all workers within direct control of the government, by maintaining the NHS budget, by developing not privatising Scottish Water, by putting “bobbies before boundaries”, by working cross party to protect defence jobs and by continuing to oppose Trident.  “So we will protect the values that I believe are shared by all the people of Scotland”.
The idea and sense of purpose was developed throughout his speech but came into its own when explaining his party’s commitment to independence.  “We must never make the mistake of confusing having a national parliament with having a national purpose”.  And from that point on, he took the SNP in a new direction.  Independence was not an end in itself but the vehicle by which to deliver a better nation:  “I do not want independence for its own sake, but for the sake of the people here and now, and those to come”.   The objective is a healthier economy and a fairer society.  The referendum will not be pitched as some arcane constitutional argument but as the way to deliver more and better.   It will be a jobs referendum with the implicit message that the Scottish people can choose to stay in the UK and face more cuts, fewer jobs, a more unequal society or choose “a better way, a fairer way and a fairer society…”
Other commentators have suggested that Salmond has shifted the argument from the heart to the head.  I disagree.  What Alex Salmond did today was move away from the hard-headed economic case for independence in order to develop a philosophy for self-determination.  This campaign will be about the country we want to be, the values we want to further, the society we want to create:
“We are not helpless agents of globalisation, but free citizens of a wealthy land. We are not slaves to the banking system or vassals to the lords of high finance.
And nor are we the tartan clichés of media myth, or the historical poetry of yesterday. We are the prose of today, the facts of here and now, the truth of Scotland.
And when we look to our neighbours, we can all see the family who can’t quite make ends meet, the child you needs some extra help, the grandmother alone who needs a hand, the mother struggling with hands full, the man at the end of his tether – for we are all the people who choose to live on this land, and by our shared values, we are the welfare of everyone in our community.”
This is what the appeal to “be part of better” means.

Who stole Scotland?

Who stole Scotland?




Published on 17 Oct 2010

‘Show the people that our Old Nobility is not noble, that its lands are stolen lands – stolen either by force or fraud; show people that the title-deeds are rapine, murder, massacre, cheating, or court harlotry; dissolve the halo of divinity that surrounds the hereditary title; let the people clearly understand that our present House of Lords is composed largely of descendants of successful pirates and rogues; do these things and you shatter the Romance that keeps the nation numb and spellbound while privilege picks its pocket.’

FIRST MINISTERS QUESTIONS 30TH SEP. 2010

Elmer Fudd shoots again, his feet must be like collanders. What an embarrassment to Scotland Iain Gray is. Sneering and gloating about Ireland when the UK is worse of thanks to his party of crooks. I hope the Irish diaspora, of which there are many thousands in Scotland show him the door next May.